Red Light Surprise

Yesterday as I approached a light on Mass Ave it turned red. The cyclist ahead of me rode blithely through it. I came to a complete stop. That was apparently a very unexpected move to the cyclist behind me…

Should this really be that much of a surprise?

However, this is why I sometimes signal when stopping at a red. Of course then the cyclist would be confused about what I’m doing with my hand… right before crashing into me just the same.

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I also stop; more a matter of hoping to catch my breath than anything else. Living in the DC metro area I have also noticed that red lights and stop signs appear to be advisory rather than mandatory and when a light changes to red, only three more cards can go through the intersection. An interesting corollary to this is that the car that does stop next to me will likely have a faulty exhaust system.

Yeah, I’ve taken to signaling when I stop for this very reason. I realize that most may not know what I’m doing with my hand initially, but at least it gives them pause to think “Dude in front of me is doing some weird shit with his hand. Proceed with caution.” After which, I’m presuming, they have the stop hand signal burned into their LTM.

I worry about this, but more when I’m taking the lane and stop at orange lights..I’m very worried that the car behind me will run the light and hit me as I’m stopping. I signal and do lots of looking behind me, but it still worries me.